Stretchable cap having size controller

ABSTRACT

A stretchable cap having a size controller according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a crown portion stretchable to at least one direction, a sweat absorbing portion disposed in a lower portion of the crown portion to absorb sweat and stretchable to at least one direction, and a size controller provided for the crown portion adjusting the size of the cap to fit a wearer&#39;s head. With such a configuration, the stretchable cap provided with the size controller offers the superior wearing comfort without causing either pressure or looseness to the head of a wearer. The size controller, after being adjusted at a predetermined size, can control the cap to fit the wearer&#39;s head as the crown portion and the sweat absorbing portion positioned along the lower edge of the crown are formed to be stretchable.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2011-0132223 filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Dec. 9, 2011, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a stretchable cap having a size controller, and particularly, it relates to a stretchable cap having a size controller that prevents feeling tight on the forehead or feeling loose by adjusting the cap to fit the forehead of a wearer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In general, a size adjustable cap having a size controller in the head circumferential direction of a lower crown portion of the cap has been commonly used without regard to the size of a wearer's head.

Such a size controller is widely used because it is easy to use and the controlled size is not easily loosened.

However, after long hours of wearing, the wearer of the cap may feel pressure on the forehead when the size controller is initially set too short or may feel looseness when the size controller is set too long.

In particular, a conventional cap having the size controller is provided with a sweat absorbing portion along an inner lower edge of a crown portion thereof such that the wearer may have increasing feeling of either pressure or looseness on the forehead.

That is, most people tend to avoid the cap having the size controller because the cap provides less wearing comfort.

The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a cap having a size controller that can control the size of the cap to fit a wearer's head.

A stretchable cap having a size controller according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a crown portion stretchable to at least one direction, a sweat absorbing portion disposed in a lower portion of the crown portion to absorb sweat and stretchable to at least one direction, and a size controller provided for the crown portion and controlling the size of the cap to be worn on a wearer's head.

According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, after adjusting the cap to a predetermined size, the size controller further controls the cap to fit the wearer's head using the crown portion and the sweat absorbing portion stretchable to at least one direction so that the cap may fit the wearer's head without causing feeling of pressure or feeling of looseness.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a lower perspective view of a lower portion of a cap according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are cross-sectional views of a sweat absorbing portion according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a use state diagram of the cap using the size controller according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a graph displaying wearing comfort with a certain degree of load applied to a cap including a non-stretchable crown portion, a non-stretchable sweat absorbing portion, and a size controller according to a comparative example and the cap including the stretchable crown portion, the stretchable sweat absorbing portion, and the size controller according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, respectively.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in further detail with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, explanatorily irrelevant portions are omitted to clearly describe the present invention, and like reference numerals designate like elements throughout the specification.

Furthermore, in case it is judged that the detailed description of the well-known function or structures relevant to the embodiments may needlessly obscure the gist of the present invention, such a description will be omitted.

In the present specification, a cap may be of various types, including a hat, a visor, and the like, and a size controller may be formed of various materials such as plastic, cloth, and leather and may be formed as a male and female coupling type, a string, a band, or a buckle. The various materials and the various shapes may be provided through the way of coupling of, for example, the string and the buckle, the male-female coupling type and the band, or cloth, plastic, and leather. The material and the shape of the size controller may be variously modified as long as the length of the head circumferential direction of the crown portion is controllable.

Hereinafter, a stretchable cap having a size controller according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, a cap 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a stretchable crown portion 101 worn on the head of a wearer and stretchable in at least one direction, a visor portion 103 disposed in at least a portion of a lower edge of the crown portion 101 to shade sunlight, a sweat absorbing portion 105 disposed in an inner lower edge of the crown portion 101 and stretchable to at least one direction to absorb sweat, and a size controller 110 controlling the length of a head circumferential direction to fit the size of the wearer's head.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the cap 100 according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the crown portion 101 may be wholly stretchable to any direction including a head circumference direction, a height direction, a bias direction, and the like, and may be stretchable to both directions of warp and weft yarns by the latitudinal and longitudinal axes. Preferably, the crown portion may be formed of a stretchable fabric panel 101 a having a stretchable latitudinal yarn therein. The fabric panel 101 a may be formed of all kinds of fabric including woven and knit if stretchable to fit the head of a wearer.

The sweat absorbing portion 105 includes a freely disposed upper portion 105-1, a lower portion 105-2 coupled by sewing to a lower edge of the crown portion 101, and a body portion 105-3. As shown in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, the body portion 105-3 may be formed of a stretchable band 105-3 a having a stretchable yarn, or the stretchable band 105-3 a may have at least one side of the stretchable band 105-3 a covered by a cover portion 105-3 b.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the cap 100 according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, when the cap 100 is worn on the forehead after controlling the size to a predetermined size using the size controller 110, the crown portion 101 and the sweat absorbing portion 105 disposed in the lower edge of the crown portion 101 are stretched to a desired direction such that the cap 100 can fit the forehead, thereby preventing the wearer from feeling pressure or feeling looseness while wearing.

In the cap 100 according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the size controller 110 is provided to control the head circumference directional length of the cap 100 between both lower sides of a dome-shaped opening portion 100 a.

The size controller 110 according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be formed of a pair of plate-shaped members having a male and female fastener that can be altered by predetermined interval, and the male and female fastener may be formed as a snap fastener, or may be formed to have an embossed or engraved pattern with a shape of hook or loop, or may be formed to have a woven fabric with a shape of hook or loop, being provided to the crown of the cap by sewing.

Further, the size controller 110 may be formed of various materials including plastic, cloth, or leather, and may be formed in the shape of a string, a buckle, or a band.

In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the sweat absorbing portion 105 according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be used by being exposed through the opening portion 100 a instead of the size controller 110.

Hereinafter, referring to FIG. 4, a cap having a non-stretchable crown portion, a non-stretchable sweat absorbing portion, and a size controller and the cap including the stretchable crown portion, the stretchable sweat absorbing portion, and the size controller will be compared to prove that the cap provides the better wearing comfort in various sizes according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating wearing comfort against a heavy load of a comparative example of a cap including a non-stretchable crown portion, a non-stretchable sweat absorbing portion, and a size controller and the cap including the elastic and stretchable crown portion, the stretchable sweat absorbing portion, and the size controller according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Here, the wearing comfort is represented by a load applied to a wearer's head, and a range from 1000 gf to 2000 gf indicates “comfort”, a range from 2000 gf to 3000 gf indicates “fit”, and a range from 3000 gf to 4000 gf indicates “tightly fit”, a range from 4000 gf to 5000 gf indicates “too small”, and a range exceeding 5000 gf indicates “unwearable”.

As shown in the graph of FIG. 4, when the head circumference size was set at 57 cm by the size controller, the cap according to the comparative example was comfort at 57 cm and fit at 57.5 cm and the cap was unwearable at 58.5 cm, whereas the cap according to the exemplary embodiment was comfort at 57 cm through 58 cm, fit at 58.5 cm through 59.5 cm and was unwearable at 62.0 cm or above.

That is, according to the exemplary embodiment, the cap was wearable without further adjustment of the size controller 110 once the size is set at 57 cm through 59.5 cm.

While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Thus, the present invention is well adapted to carry out the objectives and attain the ends and advantages mentioned above as well as those inherent therein. While presently preferred embodiments have been described for purposes of this disclosure, numerous changes and modifications will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Such changes and modifications are encompassed within the spirit of this invention as defined by the claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A stretchable cap provided with a size controller, comprising a crown portion stretchable to at least one direction, a sweat absorbing portion disposed in a lower portion of the crown portion to absorb sweat and stretchable to at least one direction, and a size controller provided for the crown portion to adjust the size of the cap to fit a wearer's head.
 2. The stretchable cap of claim 1, wherein the crown portion is formed by coupling a plurality of fabric panels that are stretchable to at least one direction.
 3. The stretchable cap of claim 1, wherein the sweat absorbing portion has a body portion formed of a stretchable band.
 4. The stretchable cap of claim 1, wherein a body portion of the sweat absorbing portion is formed of a stretchable band and a cover portion covering the stretchable band.
 5. The stretchable cap of claim 1, wherein the size controller is formed as at least one of such types as a pair of plate members having a male and female fastener, a string, a buckle, and a band.
 6. The stretchable cap of claim 2, wherein the fabric panel is formed of woven.
 7. The stretchable cap of claim 2, wherein the fabric panel is formed of knit.
 8. The stretchable cap of claim 5, wherein the size controller is formed by coupling at least one of the pair of plate members having the male and female fastener, the string, the buckle, and the band. 